The Price of Being a Hero
by Kiyosaisei Ichimaru
Summary: Cloud is given a chance to have his freedom, but he never seems to get any peace. With Denzel to take care of, will he manage to make the best of his situation? Time Travel. Gen.
1. The Price of a Second Chance

_**The Price of Being a Hero**_

Hello, I'm Ichi. I've been working on this fanfiction for a while. The initial idea was that Cloud and Denzel were sent back in time and Cloud saved Zack, but that idea was scrapped shortly. This fanfiction is highly inspired by a fanfiction called The Fifth Act, which I read an enjoyed immensely. This fanfiction is set during Crisis Core, sometime before Nibelheim, but after Angeal also deserts ShinRa.

I sincerely hope that you enjoy this fanfiction, and may I now present The Price of Being a Hero.

_Disclaimer:_ I do not own any part of the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII series.

* * *

**Chapter One: The Price of a Second Chance**

A change was coming. Someone, in the distant past from before _The Price_, was using _That_. And in _The False Village_, the pitiful copy of _The Savior's_ first home. There was a _Chance_. A _Chance_ to give _The Savior_ back _Freedom_. After all, _The Owed Debt_ to _The Savior_ had to be paid. _The Savior_ had eliminated _The Threat_, and _The Calamity_. The Savior had destroyed _The WEAPONs_ as well, but that was fine. New _WEAPONs_ were forming. _Holy_ was still in effect. Without _The Disease_, _Holy _and _The Lifestream_ could take _The Savior's_ place.

If _The Chance_ was taken.

A slightly younger _Planet_. No _Holy_ active. No _Savior_ yet. _The Savior_ was still a child there. _The Child Savior_ was owed no _Dept_. Only _The Savior_ had an _Owed Debt_. _The Child Savior_ could take the post when it was time, and _The Savior_ could be _Free_.

_The Savior_ was near _The False Village_. Perfect. _The Planet_ directed _That's _power toward _The Savior_. _The Power_ caught _The Savior_. And a child.

_The Planet_ panicked, and quickly communicated with _The Younger Planet_ as their _Lifestreams_ became tangled around _The Savior_ and _The Child_.

_The Child_ must live. _The Savior_ needed _The Child_. Nothing must be asked of _The Savior_, or _The Freedom_ would be lost.

* * *

In the slums of Midgar, Aerith Gainsborough awoke with a start. Two Lifestreams. One wiser than her familiar one, saying the Savior needed to be free, and her own, rushing to do as the wiser said.

For a moment, Aerith closed her eyes, only to come face-to-face with…

_"Hello. Sorry for the disturbance. The Planet is trying to replay Cloud. We'll leave soon."_

_"Yeah. Once Cloud is safe, we'll leave. The Lifestream doesn't need the children following us around here. See ya."_

Her eyes snapped open, a name and face glued to her mind.

Cloud Strife.

Maybe he could be her friend.

* * *

...This was not supposed to happen.

"-oud..."

It had been a normal delivery run, except for the presence of Denzel behind him on Fenrir. There was no way that that small of a change could have caused what was happening. Impossible...

"Cloud, I need you to carry the boy while I take care of the man. We'll return for the bike once we have them home."

"Okay, Mom."

He could _feel _the Mako inside him burning, and the Lifestream humming as the voices of his two dead friends echoed, telling, demanding, that he make the best of his new situation. And thinking of the boy who had been with him when that glow had swallowed him, Cloud knew he would try, For the boy's sake, rather than his own.

"Denzel..."

"Mom! He spoke!"

"Calm down, Cloud. We need to get them inside."

And then, the burn of the Mako and the murmurs of the Lifestream claimed him.

* * *

Denzel had known that something was wrong the moment that he awoke in an unfamiliar setting, instead of his or Cloud's rooms back at the Seventh Heaven. To him, it was obvious; Cloud never found alternative shelter in the Nibel Area unless he had absolutely no other choice. And having no other choice was very difficult for Cloud. Denzel had woken up at the hotel in the Golden Saucer, in Cid's home in Rocket Town, in Cosmo Canyon, in North Corel, and even in Cloud's Costa Del Sol vacation home. And if for some reason Cloud could not reach one of these places, then Denzel would wake up on board _The Shera_.

The list consisted of places that Cloud had previously taken shelter and found peace in during his hunt for Sephiroth. Of course, this brought up the question of just how, exactly, Cloud had managed to get Denzel across an entire continent to Costa Del Sol or the Corel Desert from the Nibel Area in less than a day without waking Denzel, and why he had not simply chosen a closer location, such as Rocket Town, but Denzel had a suspicion that Cloud had used the Shera as transport.

However, even with those few questionable locations he had woken up in after a run to the Nibel Area, _never_ had Denzel woken up in an unfamiliar room without Cloud. Period. The blond warrior wasn't as openly worried about the boy as Barret was with Marlene, but Cloud did have his own unique ways of showing that he did, in fact, care. Being around when Denzel woke up on a delivery run was just one of those ways.

So it was entirely, one-hundred percent understandable that Denzel was worried about Cloud, and in turn decided to investigate the sudden disappearance. And the first step to any investigation, as Cloud had taught him, was to find out where he was.

The room that Denzel had woken up in clearly looked to be the room of another young boy. It was lived-in and bordering on messy, with clothing strewn about and posters covering the walls. However, one poster in particular caught and held Denzel's attention. It was one of the old ShinRa SOLDIER recruitment posters, one of the ones with General Sephiroth staring into the room. It frightened the boy.

Such posters were burned these days. After Sephiroth went insane, and Meteor, and more recently the Remnants, the former General was an omen of ill-will. His image was destroyed and hated even more than ShinRa. Cloud would often become oddly silent when he took the time to notice what the common public thought of Sephiroth. _'He was insane, and I do hate him for Nibelheim and everything else,'_ Cloud had said with a small frown, _'But before that, before he found Jenova, Sephiroth was a hero. More people should remember that.'_

Denzel was too young to remember the Silver General. All that he knew about Sephiroth came from listening to Cloud and the rest of AVALANCHE talking about their adventures. And in those stories, Sephiroth was always the end of days. Denzel's first-hand encounter with the remnants did not do much to clear the former General's reputation either.

If only Denzel had been around the few times that the Turks and Cloud had gotten to talking about the days before Nibelheim, when Cloud was just a lowly recruit, and no where near being a hero.

However, the thoughts about Cloud's opinion of Sephiroth were a poor distraction from his goal. In order to rescue Cloud, Denzel would need to clear his thoughts. This wasn't just some game he was playing with Marlene at the bar, with Cloud actually asleep in his room after a long delivery run. This situation was real, and Denzel was the only one who could save-

"Oh! You're awake. What a relief! Nibel Area winter storms are dangerous; I was afraid you would be out a few days."

The brown-haired boy raised his eyes and turned to the door in an instant. Standing there was a woman with tightly-braided blond hair flung over a shoulder, wearing a blue dress and a green apron. The woman was very pretty, right down to her blue eyes and oddly familiar soft smile.

However, that smile soon faded into an expression of worry when Denzel failed to answer, "Are you alright? I found you and your father on the path leading up to Mt. Nibel," the frown deepened and the woman's tone turned incredulous, "Really, riding a motorcycle on that path! In the middle of winter! With a child! Oh... Anyway, could you tell me your name, young man?"

Denzel turned his eyes back to the poster of Sephiroth, embarrassed at being called a 'young man'. Most people just called him a kid; it was a nice change. This woman certainly didn't seem like the type to support Sephiroth. She was far too kind for that!

"...I'm Denzel."

The woman looked Denzel over in response, and then nodded, "Well, Denzel, I'll loan you some of my son's old clothing. What you're wearing is hardly suitable for a Nibel winter. It's only just barely suitable for a Nibel summer! Stay here; I'll be right back."

Denzel nodded absently as the woman left, and stood to inspect the room closer. A few toys were piled in the corners of the room, a pile of books were stacked on the desk on the wall opposite the bed, and a half-filled duffel bag sat next to the dresser. But despite all of this, Denzel's eyes landed on the out-of-place Sephiroth poster. Why anyone would want a poster of _him_ made no sense to Denzel.

"You really seem interested in my son's poster. Are you also a fan of General Sephiroth? Or planning to apply for SOLDIER when you're older? It seems like all of the young boys want to be in SOLDIER these days... My son is actually leaving to apply himself. Anyway, here are the clothes. They should fit you."

Denzel jumped, startled by the return of the woman, and automatically spun around to answer, "No! I don't want to be a SOLDIER. I want to run deliveries on Fenrir! ...But I need to learn to fight first, 'cause even Fenrir can be attacked by monsters. Like that pack of Kalm Fangs on the way to the Chocobo Farm..." Denzel realized he was going on about his dream to someone who was essentially a total stranger, rescuer or not, "Uh, thanks for the clothing, Mrs..."

"Oh, just call me Beckah. Being called 'Mrs.' makes me feel old! And my husband is dead anyway..." Beckah passed the clothing to Denzel and turned to leave, "I'll leave you to change, then. And feel free to go play outside when you're finished. It's rather boring in here, and I made sure to include a coat and boots in that pile."

With that, the door closed behind Beckah and Denzel set about changing his clothes. The provided clothing included woolen socks and a sweater, along with long pants and outdoors wear. To top it off, the hat that Denzel had been provided with for some reason resembled the face of a cartoonish Nibel Wolf. After changing, Denzel was surprised at how much warmer he felt. Almost too warm, actually, considering that he had felt perfectly normal before.

Opening the door to the room he was in, Denzel peeked out into the hallway. To his right, Beckah was entering a different room; in front of Denzel was a staircase, which Denzel sped down in his excitement to see where he was and explore. When he and Cloud got back home again, he would have a whole new story and adventure game to share with Marlene. Apparently the appeal of having a story for his best friend appealed to Denzel more than his previous caution and confusion about the situation.

In fact, the caution and confusion was all forgotten as Denzel rushed out into the mountain air and began to explore.

* * *

Normally Cloud never would have decided to pass up a trip on _The Shera_. A ride from Cid usually would mean he was in Rocket Town, which would mean that Cloud' only other option to get back to Edge was through Neo-Nibelheim. Avoiding Neo-Nibelheim was pretty high up on Cloud's priority list, but this time the area had been calling to him. So, using the fairly true excuse that Denzel wanted to see more of the Nibel Area, Cloud turned down a ride, resolved to visit the Golden Saucer on the way home, and set back the way they came. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to follow an urge probably influenced by the Planet while Denzel was with him.

…His ideas usually looked crazy in hindsight.

Either way, it was too late to remedy his mistake. At least this time no one was dead for it. Moving on was the safest option; just open his eyes, stand up, ignore how he became Mako-enhanced in favor of being thankful for the regenerative abilities Mako granted, and locate Denzel and Fenrir. If necessary, curse his dead best friends for no doubt trying to 'help' cheer him up. Easy enough. Cloud had followed that routine several times before.

Step one, open his eyes. It was really gloomy. Gray. Familiar. But… not really. Cloud's head started to pound. Where was he..? He had been here before, of that he was certain. But then, why couldn't he remember? Everything since he woke up from his first case of Mako poisoning was frighteningly clear. Only his time in and before the Labs was nearly a complete blank- nearly, because visiting the labs had brought back memories that Cloud would have rather forgotten. Although, there were some memories that had been lost forever- Wait. Could he have been here before Nibelheim? Cloud was officially baffled.

The only places where he had stayed before Nibelheim Cloud had revisited, except- the original Nibelheim! But how? Old Nibelheim had _burned_!

Only moments later, after he had managed to sit up without making any noise, did Cloud decide that cursing his dead best friends was definitely necessary. The woman tidying up with room was someone that Cloud knew was dead. Suddenly Cloud felt that he needed to get out of town as quickly as he could. For someone with Mako enhancements, that was actually pretty fast under normal circumstance. But with flashbacks to worry about- there was a reason that Cloud avoided Neo-Nibelheim, besides the fact that it shouldn't exist- and Denzel to take car-

Denzel!

Forgetting all about where he was, Cloud launched to his feet- and promptly became tangled in the quilt covering him. The result was Cloud's face meeting the floor with a dull thud. Mentally scolding himself for not thinking before leaping so as to _avoid_ such a Zack-like moment, Cloud lifted his face to make sure that he hadn't broken anything. SOLDIER strength was dangerous if thrown around with no control. Even if Cloud hadn't done anything to catch himself, he could still do a lot of damage to anything in his path. Mako changed everything. Including how hard your head was.

However, Cloud didn't see any damage. That, for some reason, filled him with relief, although Cloud could not place a cause on why. His room- where the only things he actually minded being broken were kept- was in Edge. Even if this was the old Nibelheim, even if his friends had sent him to the past. **_His home was gone_**. The bar, where Tifa made sure to fuss over him and his phone rang nonstop with delivery orders and requests to buy his special racing chocobos, and where he could work on any number of pointless tasks along with the more worthwhile duty of taking care of Denzel- That was the closest thing to home he had. He might even call it home in his mind, not wanting to face the embarrassment of the various reactions his living friends would have if he admitted the bar was home. But thoughts of home aside, Cloud did see something when he raised his head.

His mother. Cloud had all but forgotten what Beckah Strife looked like. Cloud felt his face hit the floor again, and winced as he heard a board crack. He _was_ in the old Nibelheim. His head already was throbbing in pain. But then again… No. Cloud was sure. No one was quite as pretty as his mother had been. She was unmistakable. Especially since memories that he hadn't heard from in years seemed to have returned upon seeing her. Alright, he was in the past… Drat. He had no clue what had caused this! The story would be crazier and even more unbelievable now that would be typical if Cloud _did_ know the cause! Not that Cloud would tell anyone in the first place. So, cover story…

"Dear? Are you alright? My name is Beckah Strife. I found you and your son out on the path up Mount Nibel. Could you please answer me?"

Without thinking, Cloud raised his head and burst out a response, "So _you're_ my aunt!"

In the following silent moment, Beckah looked absolutely shocked and Cloud mentally cursed himself for the second Zack-like action of the day.

Finally, it was Beckah who broke the silence, "I'm your… aunt? There must be some mistake."

Unable to take back his words now and praying that the cover story worked, Cloud pulled forth what little knowledge of his family history that remained in his memories, "You _are_ the younger sister of Artemis Strife, right?"

Beckah nodded slowly, a frown set in her features, 'Well… yes. But Arty died twenty-four years ago."

Cloud mentally praised himself for remembering the name of his long diseased uncle, "Artemis Strife was my father. I was only a year old when the explosion in the Mythril Mines killed him. When my mother died seven years ago, I started trying to find father's family. I didn't have any luck for a long time. But last year I found father's journal and it mentioned Nibelheim. Around that time I found Denzel, though, so I waited until this year to visit." Cloud was proud of his cover story. Artemis Strife was a virtual unknown- not even the Turks would be able to find much on him, and no one knew if Artemis Strife had started a family or not. The story might just hold up under closer inspection.

"Arty's son…" Beckah whispered, disbelieving, "Alright, prove it. Arty always had a very unique name in mind for his first born." The woman crossed her arms and looked down at Cloud.

Cloud had never been so relieved that his mother had honored his uncle's memory by using the name that Artemis Strife had intended to use, "Cloud, Ma'am. Cloud Strife."

For a long moment, Beckah stared at him, as though daring him to be lying. And then, the petite woman smiled, "Well then… Welcome to the family, Cloud. Will you be staying long? Oh! And Cloudy- that'd be my son; funny how alike you two look- will want to meet you. Cloudy's always wanted a brother; an older cousin is just as good. And- oh my, we'd better untangle you first!" Beckah laughed, embarrassed at getting carried away.

Cloud resisted the urge to go silent and hide in his mind. No matter how uncomfortable with the situation he was, this was family… Instead, Cloud forced himself to answer in a soft voice, "No, it's fine. I'm already untangled," And he was, "I won't stay long, Ma'am. I was just curious. Denzel and I will head back to Kalm tomorrow."

Beckah frowned at the suddenly much quieter behavior, reminded of her son whenever the other children were picking on him. In an attempt to cheer up her 'nephew', Beckah pulled Cloud to his feet, "None of that! You're family. Although, if you really must leave tomorrow… at least take your cousin with you? You live in Kalm? Cloudy wants to enlist, join SOLDIER. Kalm and Midgar aren't too far apart, right? Then maybe you could escort him."

Cloud started at Beckah with wide eyes, not quite believing what he had heard. Him? Escort his younger self to Midgar? The enhanced man thought about it a moment. He didn't really want to, but Midgar at the very least might be able to help him set up his delivery service in this time. The downside was ShinRa and Sephiro- Sephiroth. Alive. That meant… he could change everything! Kill Sephiroth and Hojo, destroy Jenova- No. He had Denzel to take care of and Denzel had to come first. When the time came, Cloud would take on Sephiroth and destroy Jenova. By then Denzel would be able to find work if Cloud didn't survive.

His hate would be set aside. For Denzel.

Finally, Cloud nodded, coming to a decision. He would open his delivery service in Kalm, after escorting- the mentally dubbed- 'Spiky' to Midgar. All the way to the ShinRa building, because the slums were no place for a child, "I'll do that. I did trouble you so… It's the least I could do."

Beckah's answering smile made Cloud look away in embarrassment. It seemed that Tifa really had taken on the roll of mother… Damn! He wasn't a child to be taken care of… Stupid Tifa…

Cloud pushed himself into a sitting position and studied the room again, attempting to remember it a little better. However, he quickly halted in that plan. Cloud would leave as quickly as possible. He would rather these memories stay buried. Climbing to his feet, the man looked back at Beckah, "Where's Denzel?"

Beckah smiled at Cloud's concern for the young boy, "No worries. He was fine, so I bundled him up and sent him out to play. There isn't much in here for children to do."

Cloud suddenly felt a sense of dread. Outsiders were never treated well by most people in Nibelheim. Becoming increasingly anxious, Cloud headed for the door, pulling up his goggles to cover his eyes, "I'm going to go find him."

Beckah Strife only sighed and watched the man walk away. He was hiding something, she was sure of it.

After all, only SOLDIERs had eyes shining with Mako, and she had seen two pairs of eyes with that glow today.


	2. The Price of Being a SOLDIER

_**The Price of Being a Hero**_

This chapter was difficult to complete, and may very well be longer than most of the other chapters. I ask you to bear with me: any questions you may have will be answered in the story later on. See if you can catch the foreshadowing scattered through the first two chapters.

I sincerely hope that you enjoy this fanfiction, and may I now present the second chapter of The Price of Being a Hero.

_Disclaimer:_ I do not own any part of the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII series.

* * *

**Chapter Two: ****The Price of Being a ****SOLDIER**

Denzel had greatly enjoyed playing in the snow, despite the lack of a proper playmate. There were only a handful of children in Nibelheim, and all of them were older than Denzel, considering themselves too 'mature' for children's games. Such as Denzel's current game of pretending to be Cloud infiltrating ShinRa. But Denzel was unbothered by having to play alone, and continued 'sneaking' around. Eventually the boy noticed that the sun was setting and turned to head back toward Beckah's house, only to be stopped by a large hand on his arm.

Denzel looked over his shoulder, surprised to find an older boy glaring at him. After his time in the slums, Denzel recognized that face. He was an outsider, and not welcome here. Even the adults were ignoring the situation. Keeping quiet, Denzel lowered his eyes. Experience had taught him that surrendering was better than fighting. Especially when you were classified as an 'enemy' by everyone around you. The larger boy sneered.

"Hey, outsider! Being a coward now, are you?! And you were just strutting around like you owned the place."

Denzel ignored the voice, yanking his arm away and continuing his walk in the direction of Beckah's house.

Growing angry, the larger boy punched Denzel to the ground, "You don't get to leave until I say you can leave! You've one of the strangers the Strifes dragged back, aren't you? Heh, they should have let you both die!"

Denzel glared at the ground where he had landed hard in the snow. His eyes felt a little strange, but the younger boy still didn't answer or raise his head. This wasn't worth it. Cloud would ignore insults like those, right?

But as the first punch was thrown, Denzel did the only thing he could.

He punched back as hard as he could. There was a scream.

And then silence.

* * *

"Go!" Angeal ordered, and his student turned to run with Director Lazard, leading him away from what appeared to be Wutai troops.

Angeal Hewley and his student, Zack Fair, had been sent to Wutai to complete a mission that Angeal's friend Genesis was supposed to be working on- had been working on, up until his disappearance. Both of the SOLDIERs had taken out plenty of Wutai warriors by this point- but aside from having the Director to protect, Angeal had thought these troops felt different.

Not that he had informed Zack before sending him away with the Director. If Genesis happened to be involved… He would rather have both his student and Lazard in safety. Sephiroth would likely be out to meet him the moment he learned of the altercation anyway, save for the off chance Angeal's instincts were wrong- but they hadn't been wrong yet, so Angeal intended to continue trusting them.

That was why he only made his move once Zack and the Director were out of sight.

However, in that moment something strange happened. Each of the warriors suddenly fell forward in a shower of crimson blood and dissolved into sparkling green light right in front of Angeal's eyes. Immediately, Angeal went on high alert- well, higher alert than he had already been on. Things like that just didn't happen-

The sound of a snort caught Angeal's attention, and he spun around.

In front of him stood a large grey wolf, sniffing the ground. Angeal recognized this monster from missions- it was a Nibel Wolf, certainly not a creature native to Wutai. In fact, Wutai didn't have wolves of any kind. And yet here one was- a large wolf calmly ignoring him as if being around a human with Mako enhancements was a normal, every-day event and worth none of its attention. There was only a small amount of blood on its paws to signify that it had been the creature to take out the Wutai soldiers.

"Hm. Have you defeated my copies already, old friend?" The mildly mocking question rang from above, "No- you had… help."

It couldn't be.

Angeal looked up, and saw, perched in the branches of a tree, Genesis. The SOLDIER looked worse for wear- even worse than he had the last time they had seen each other. Genesis' hair was faded, his coat was ripped- and a large black wing was settled behind his back.

The red-head smirked viciously at Angeal's look of shock, "Surprised, Angeal? Do you see what ShinRa did to me? To _us_?"

"Us- what are you talking about, Genesis?"

Genesis bowed mockingly and answered with a condescending edge to his voice, "Degradation- a _side effect_ of the process used to make us. You didn't know, Angeal? _My friend, the fates are cruel…_"

"Now is hardly a time for Loveless, Genesis. And what's degradation? You're not making sense." Angeal was growing tense. What had _happened_ to his old friend? Where was the Genesis he remembered? "Come on, you can tell me while we go meet Sephiro-"

"No, Angeal. I will _never_ return to ShinRa." Genesis looked disgusted by the very thought, but an instant later he was smiling, hand extended, "If you wish to know more, old friend… Come with me."

Angeal hesitated, tempted to take the offer if only for the chance to convince Genesis to come home. Luckily, however, a voice from nowhere interrupted Angeal's thoughts.

'_Don't, Angeal.'_

Angeal and Genesis both startled, looking around for the source of the voice. Well, Angeal looked around for the source- Genesis looked amused. But to Angeal, there was nothing to be amused about- that voice had been _Zack's_. And Zack should have been far away by now.

It was the wolf that pulled Angeal from his thoughts with a loud, echoing howl.

'_We aren't supposed to do too much. But this… this needs to change.'_

'_I agree. Do you want me to use Great Gospel, Zack?'_

'_That would be great. Thanks Aerith.'_

'_It's no problem. You're right- this does need to change.'_

The conversation went unheard by the SOLDIERs, being carried along in the howl. What they did experience, however, was the scent of flowers... right before rain began to fall from the sky. At that point, a miracle happened. That was the only way Genesis would be able to describe it later, and not even Angeal would be able to find a way to argue with it.

As the rain hit Genesis, life returned to his skin and hair, and the wing dissolved into black fog. To Angeal, it was amazing- and a good thing. To Genesis, however…

He managed to correctly associate the rain that was healing him with the out-of-place Nibel Wolf, and one final irrational thought that was ignoring the fact all he had wanted was a cure drove him to lunge with Rapier. He was too fast for Angeal to intervene and stop it.

And yet, Rapier was suddenly met with the Buster Sword anyway.

The figure that stood with his back to Angeal, facing Genesis, was dressed in a SOLDIER's First Class black uniform. Black hair was spiked back, with one spike of hair hanging in his face. There was a cross-shaped scar on his cheek- and bright violet eyes stared at Genesis. Despite the fact the rain continued to fall, the water did not touch the figure- in fact, it only seemed to break up into a glow around him.

Then again… Hadn't the wolf looked the same?

"_This really brings back memories. Not that I could be hurt anyway, but still."_

Angeal appeared startled by the voice, but Genesis was more startled when the serious expression melted into a grin.

"Who are you?!" Genesis demanded, not enjoying feeling mocked or seeing the Buster Sword being held by someone who wasn't Angeal- even though his mind was feeling clear again and he could _see_ that Angeal was still wearing the sword himself.

"_Zack Fair, SOLDIER First Class! Well, Ex-SOLDIER First Class. But it's still really what's inside that counts, and I've got my Honor and Dreams."_

The man- who could not _possibly_ be Angeal's Puppy, there was no way that this confident, battle-scarred SOLDIER could be the bouncy Second Class Angeal was training- looked baffled a moment.

"_Wait- is it strange for a dead man to have dreams? Guess not. Anyway, Genesis, fun as it is to fight with you… I really don't want to fight you when I'm dead. That would be kind of unfair, you know?"_ The man laughed and turned to look at Angeal, _"And you don't need to worry. You'll see in a moment. But I can't stay any longer. It's hard enough sticking around when no one can see me. So… Just take care. The Degradation isn't an issue for you anymore."_

The SOLDIER faded from sight, but his voice echoed around them.

"_Being a SOLDIER doesn't mean you're a monster."_

As the rain stopped and the scent of flowers faded, the voice of a woman chimed in.

"_Just ask Cloud."_

Genesis and Angeal were left staring at empty air, with no time to ponder the words. Someone was coming, they could hear the footsteps.

So Genesis did the only thing he could think of, now that his mind was clear, "Angeal… I'll explain everything after Wutai is taken care of."

Angeal nodded, a little distracted, "Glad to see you're speaking sense again."

There was no time to say anything else. Moments later, Zack bounced into the clearing to find Angeal, and froze when he saw Genesis. As Angeal set about introductions and Sephiroth stepped into the clearing with an extremely brief expression of relief, Genesis could only wonder two things.

What the hell had he been thinking, and how by the Goddess had a _puppy_ made him see sense?

Oh- and who Cloud was, he guessed.


End file.
